Chapter 21: Not Picking a Fight, but Recruiting

Tachibana Kippei felt very surprised that Takahashi could recognize him at a single glance.

However, he found Takahashi's face to be extremely unfamiliar.

It seemed as if he had never seen him before.

This person must have seen him play in person at the National Tournament before.

And they must have been keeping an eye on him, otherwise, how could they recognize him at a glance now?

One had to know that he had undergone earth-shaking changes compared to before.

"I heard from An that your tennis skills are very impressive."

"But you don't seem to belong to any team."

"If you want to show what you can do at the National Tournament, you can join Fudomine."

"We welcome any player with real ability."

Tachibana Kippei said.

At this moment, Fudomine was exactly in need of manpower; even with him as the Captain, their combat strength was still insufficient if they wanted to secure a spot at the National Tournament.

Having someone with good ability who was also friendly toward him—wasn't this a ready-made candidate for recruitment?

As soon as Tachibana Kippei said this, Tachibana An was visibly shocked.

After watching Takahashi's one-versus-two match last night, she had mentioned it to her brother when she got home.

This morning, regarding the match between Seigaku and Gyokurin, she had also told her brother the whole story.

She had originally thought her brother would stand up for her and use his strength to teach Takahashi a lesson.

That there is always someone better, and mountains beyond mountains!

That one shouldn't be so arrogant and conceited, and should learn to be humble and respect their seniors!

She hadn't expected her brother to actually extend an olive branch to him, intending to recruit him.

Then, she had a change of thought; this might not be a bad thing.

Simply crushing someone with strength—that tactic was too vulgar.

Not only should one use strength, but one should also use character to conquer the other party.

This was the true demeanor and bearing of a king!

It proved that her brother, Tachibana Kippei, not only had solid tennis skills but also valued care over blame when facing a junior who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth.

And she could also take the opportunity to bring Takahashi under their banner.

Although Tachibana An really disliked Takahashi's arrogant personality, she couldn't deny that Takahashi's strength was indeed very good.

Turning him into a teammate was much better than having him as an enemy.

Her brother was truly clever, killing two birds with one stone!

If Takahashi successfully became a member of Fudomine, then she, Tachibana An, would be very willing to let bygones be bygones regarding the previous conflict.

"..."

He hadn't expected things to develop this way; it was beyond Takahashi's expectations.

Originally, he had prepared himself to be provoked, but he hadn't expected the situation to take such a sharp turn.

Takahashi raised an eyebrow and said, "Thanks for your kind offer, but I have a team."

"And I will definitely make it to the National Tournament."

Since the other party wasn't here to pick a fight and was even friendly enough to want to recruit him into Fudomine, his own attitude shouldn't be too arrogant.

If a man respects me by a foot, I shall respect him by ten; if a man destroys a grain of mine, I shall take three pecks of his!

This was the principle of conduct that Takahashi had always followed.

Tachibana Kippei's character was actually quite decent; he hadn't come to cause trouble just because his younger sister had lost face.

Instead, he had grasped the crux of the matter.

He, Takahashi Yanichi, was a tennis player with real ability.

As the Captain of the Tennis Club, he understood his responsibilities, and he understood even better that what he should do at this moment was to recruit!

This caused Takahashi's assessment of his character to rise by a large margin.

As expected, he was worthy of being the person who could reorganize the Fudomine Tennis Club!

In the anime he watched in his past life, Tachibana Kippei transferred to Fudomine in his second year, yet the Fudomine Tennis Club, from the Coach to the members, was a complete mess, like mud that couldn't be plastered onto a wall.

The third-year seniors only knew how to bully the freshmen and did nothing themselves, and their tennis skills were also extremely poor.

The Coach also turned a blind eye, deliberately shielding and indulging them.

Tachibana Kippei later applied to the school to establish a new tennis club.

After a year of hard work, he successfully led it to the National Tournament this year.

To tell the truth, Takahashi had a very good impression of Tachibana Kippei when he watched the manga in his past life.

Daring to challenge authority and starting anew.

Although his strength was relatively lackluster in the later stages, it was still quite good in the early stages.

Seeing him today, he truly possessed the demeanor of a great general.

It was just that his younger sister needed to be disciplined properly.

Having no strength but liking to show off everywhere—that was asking to be struck by lightning!

Looking at the clothes on Takahashi, which didn't have any school emblem, Tachibana Kippei felt very puzzled.

"Well then, we'll see each other at the National Tournament!"

Tachibana Kippei continued.

After saying this, the group prepared to leave.

"Wait a moment!"

They stopped in their tracks, thinking Takahashi was about to change his mind.

After all, this was an invitation personally extended by the Captain of Fudomine; such treatment was giving him quite a lot of face.

Even if Takahashi transferred to Fudomine, it wouldn't be impossible.

"Next match, your opponents are Seigaku, right!"

"A friendly reminder, the members of Seigaku are even stronger than you imagine."

"I suggest that you, as Captain, had best play as Singles Two!"

"Otherwise, you won't even have the chance to step onto the court!"

Takahashi said indifferently.

One must know that in the original story, in this match between Fudomine and Seigaku, apart from Seigaku forfeiting the first match, they went on to win three consecutive matches.

Tachibana Kippei, as Singles One, didn't even get to play at all.

Once these words were spoken, the eyes of the few from Fudomine all tightened.

Tachibana Kippei froze for a second, smiled slightly at Takahashi, and then turned to leave.

Tachibana An did not follow far away; she stayed behind.

"Are you stupid? My brother personally invited you, and you actually still won't come."

"Fudomine is not what it used to be."

"Today's Fudomine, you ignore; tomorrow's Fudomine, you won't be able to afford!"

Tachibana An said fiercely.

"Heh! Heh! Heh!"

Takahashi felt speechless.

For the sake of Tachibana Kippei, he decided not to hold it against Tachibana An.

"If you really care about your brother, then you had best advise him to consider my suggestion from just now."

Takahashi said indifferently.

"No need for you to worry, the strength of our Fudomine is very formidable."

Tachibana An said dismissively.

……

"Captain, that guy just now was too ungrateful. You personally invited him, and he actually refused flat out."

"And saying he has a team, that excuse is too lame."

"The entire Regional Preliminaries of Tokyo are today, and his team is nowhere to be seen!"

Ibu Shinji, with deep purple hair, said to Captain Tachibana Kippei, his tone very dissatisfied.

"Judging from An's description, Takahashi's strength should be quite good."

"It's a pity that tomorrow is the match against Seigaku, otherwise I would have liked to test his strength today."

"If he truly has the strength, then his temper can be tolerated."

"If his strength is average, then there is no need to care about such a small character."

Tachibana Kippei said indifferently.

Aside from him as Captain, the entire Fudomine is made up of second-years.

Their combat power is quite good at the level of the Metropolitan Tournament and the Kanto Tournament.

To shine in the National Tournament, they still need to add new, stronger combat power.

If it weren't for preparing for tomorrow's match against Seigaku, he would have wanted to have a match with Takahashi today.

Tennis still has to be spoken of with strength.

If he could steadily defeat him, then inviting him to come would be a matter of course.

Takahashi joining the Fudomine Tennis Club would then be a natural outcome!

As for Takahashi's final warning, Tachibana Kippei smiled indifferently.

He was still a bit worried about the National Tournament.

But he didn't care about the match against Seigaku in the slightest.

Seigaku's style is old-fashioned, rigid, and stubborn; letting all the first-years go pick up balls and do basic training wastes a whole year of the freshmen's time.

Middle school is only three years in total, and a year of time is wasted just like that.

That is a full one-third of the time!